The Butterfly Effect
by SilverWolf329
Summary: One small change can change everything. Warning: Character death.


**So, I was re-watching the Avengers, and I thought, "Gee, they were really lucky that Tony was there to put the nuke in the portal. And that Bruce arrived just in time for them to kill the first Levithian. And that there just happened to be a way for the portal to be shut down. And Natasha just happened to know how to knock the Loki out of people." Lots of luck, guys. Anyway… Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but (most) of the plot.**

* * *

At 6:32 PM on May 16th, 1980, Howard Stark shoved Maria into the car. He then asked his son, Anthony, if he wanted to go in style, and not in "that piece of shit you call a car."

Anthony debated it for a few minutes. In the end, he decided, why not? It was probably the only way he'd get to spend some time with his dad. And his dad's car was, admittedly, nicer than the random Ferrari he had picked from the dealer when he had gotten his license.

Anthony shrugged, slipped on a pair of shades, and slid into the backseat of his dad's car. If he weren't so preoccupied with his upcoming graduation, he would have smelled the alcohol clinging to Howard's body. He would have gotten out of the car.

But he didn't.

He failed to notice Howard's slightly unfocused eyes, or Maria's white-knuckled, trembling hands gripping the sides of the seat.

He failed to notice the way the car was swerving slightly, or that it was going slightly faster than normal.

He did notice, however, a small streak of dirt on his otherwise immaculate shoes. He licked his thumb and bent down to wipe off the smudge.

Perhaps that was why he failed to notice the truck headed directly at them.

They were suddenly thrown to the side of the road, flipping once, twice, three times. Bits of dirt, grass, and mud from the ground were picked up and thrown around the car. Shards of glass rained down upon the family.

Perhaps that was why they failed to notice the small fuel leak when the car stopped rolling.

Perhaps that was why they failed to notice the small, flickering fire in the engine.

The world suddenly exploded in a searing flash of white heat, flames catching onto leather, grass, clothing, hair.

Anthony's last coherent thought was that he was very glad he had sunglasses.

At 7:02 on May 16th, 1980, Anthony Stark was pronounced dead.

A small white butterfly landed on the still-smoking car.

* * *

The funeral was held two weeks later. Almost a thousand people flocked to pay their respects. Speeches were made about how smart, hard-working, and innovative Howard was, and how kind, generous, and loyal Maria was. Crowds milled around two large, gold-trimmed coffins displaying Howard and Maria.

Nobody paid much attention to the smaller, black coffin behind them.

The funeral lasted for weeks. People from all around the country, from all around the world, came to honor the wonderful man and woman they knew. One or two MIT students turned up, but none spoke so much as a word for Anthony.

And so Anthony's coffin was lowered into a grave next to his cold, stiff, mother and father, unknown, unrecognized, forgotten.

* * *

Obadiah Stane held a press conference a week after the funeral. In memory of Howard, Stark Industries would stop making weapons, and would instead direct its attention towards clean energy.

The conference room was dead silent.

Stane walked out of the room, footsteps loud in the pressing silence.

Stocks dropped nearly forty percent the next day, and continued to drop steadily for the next three months.

After three months, Stane gave up and sold Stark Industries to Justin Hammer.

Stark Industries faded into history, becoming nothing more than a glorious has-been that would never be powerful again.

Arc Reactor designs slowly gathered dust in one Anton Vanko's basement.

* * *

Fourteen years, seven months, and fourteen days later, Captain America was found in Alaska. SHIELD thawed him out of his ice block with a rush of heat not unlike that of a hair dryer.

When he had thawed out enough to move and speak coherently, they wrapped him up in a shock blanket, sat him in front of an old-fashioned fireplace, and explained what had happened in the seventy years he was frozen.

Steve stayed quiet throughout the explanation. He barely noticed the files that were dropped next to him, or the soft footsteps leading out of the room.

The heavy iron door slammed shut.

After they left, Steve stared into the fire for the entire night, wishing futilely for a familiar face.

* * *

Two years, three weeks, and six days later, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton were found unstable and unsuitable for the Avengers Initiative.

Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne were asked instead.

Both accepted, and Agents Romanoff and Barton remained agents.

They were assigned to protect the Tesseract twelve hours later.

* * *

Forty-six hours later, Janet was asked to bring in the Hulk.

Bruce Banner was immediately at ease in Janet's easy-going, kind nature. He immediately trusted the women that genuinely cared for strangers she didn't know.

Bruce willingly joined the Avengers as a fighting member, but was slightly reclusive around the rest of the team.

* * *

One week and six days later, the Helicarrier was attacked by Loki, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton.

Loki lured Bruce to the glass cage, then promptly stabbed his hostage, an agent that seemed important, in the chest. Bruce quickly transformed, and charged at Loki with a roar of rage.

Loki simply flickered and disappeared, reappearing at the controls and sealing the Hulk in the cage. Loki grinned, a cold, evil grin, before pushing the button that dropped the Hulk thirty thousand feet, to meet the cold, hard ground below.

He kicked the agent out of the hole, too, just for good measure.

Bits of dirt, grass, and daisies flew up as the cage plowed into the grass.

The Hulk roared and pounded against the unbreakable glass.

Three hours later, the cage finally shattered, the Hulk's anger loud for anyone to hear.

The Hulk staggered out of the remains of the glass cage, collapsing in the field and shrinking back into Bruce Banner, who blinked blearily a few times then fainted.

* * *

Thor appeared on the Helicarrier two minutes later, just in time to catch a fleeting glimpse of his brother fleeing the aircraft.

He agreed to work with the three other Avengers in the hope that they could capture Loki and stop the end of the world.

* * *

The battle for Earth began a week later.

A dark, roiling hole opened in the otherwise bright blue, cheerful sky. Immediately, aliens from another part of the galaxy began swarming out of the hole, carrying weapons of mass destruction, guns that shot out some kind of blue energy, and swords.

It sounded so surreal that the Avengers had to pause for a moment before responding to the call.

* * *

Bruce trudged through the forest, stopping to take a rest at the base of a large tree.

He sat down heavily, leaning against the bark. His eyes slowly slid closed.

* * *

The battle seemed to have raged on forever. The four Avengers were desperately fighting the endless masses of insect-like creatures and snake- like things that poured out of the portal.

They knew they couldn't win when fighting an army of advanced, inter-galactic aliens.

They tried, though, because the world couldn't end, not while it was under their protection.

Hank had just grabbed Loki, shaking him, demanding to know how to stop the creatures, stop the portal. Loki stood, not moving, not saying a word, a slight smirk on his face.

Then Fury sent word that the Council, against all arguments made by Fury, was sending a nuke to the heart of Manhattan, and they needed to close that damn portal _now_, before it was too late.

Selvig laughed, loud and clear, calling Loki to take them away, because New York was as good as gone.

Loki smiled, a feral grin, and vanished from Hank's hands.

Steve looked up, and saw a glint of white on the horizon, and knew that was what was going to end the Chitauri, and New York, forever.

The missile began its descent.

Steve looked at the other three Avengers gathering around him.

"We lost," He whispered hoarsely.

The world exploded in a searing flash of

* * *

**So… Yeah. That was… fun. By the way, Janet van Dyne and Henry "Hank" Pym are not mine. They're actual Marvel characters, the Wasp and Ant-Man.**


End file.
